December 2018 Wrap Up

Hello everyone! I’m here for the classic wrap up of the month, and I promised you that in the first days of January I will write the Best and The worst books of 2018. I usually write it in the new year, so I can include all the books I’ve read.

In december I read 7 books, 4 in Italian.

That are 2 best books this month, one Italian and one English: L’uomo che odiava Sherlock Holmes (The Sherlockian) and Clockwork Alchemist.

I also finished the nearly 500 pages of The Sinner. And it wasn’t as good as the Tv show.

Don’t eat the glowing bananas: well… it’s weird sci-fi, and it’s a genre that I didn’t like. But I like the cover. 2 stars

Clockwork Alchemist: I love a good old steampunk book. This book has not a great background, but the characters are so lovely. 5 stars.

A time traveller’s best friend: it’s sci-fi and I can’t relate to the characters. The chapters also seems disjointed. 2 stars.

I wish a Happy New Year to all of you!!

My Top 5 Movies/Shows of 2018

Hello and welcome back! Christmas is passed, have you received books? I received a lovely Pj, so comfy!

Now, let’s begin with the list of the best and worst of 2018 with the Top 5 Movies/Tv Shows that I watched this year:

5) The Good Cop: you already know that I love Josh Groban, and this crime/comedy series is lovely. You can read my review here.

4) Aggretsuko: how lovely is Retsuko? I love her, this series is so funny, and I see myself a lot in the main character. And now there’s the Christmas Special episode too!

3) Errementari, The Blacksmith and the Devil: have you read my enthusiastic review of this horror movie? It’s fantastic and really underrated.

2) Loving, Vincent: this is absolutely a masterpiece, an incredible work of art that needs to be seen in HD. And the music is heart touching.

1. The Lizzie Borden Chronicles: Christina Ricci is amazing as Lizzie Borden in this miniseries on Netflix. I loved everything: the costumes so rich and beautiful, the history and the locations, the mystery, the acting of all the actors. Definitely the best TV show I have seen this year.

Bonus: Violet Evergarden.

This anime series is so sad and heartbreaking, with beautiful scenarios and landscapes. However, it’s really slow and the ending is…a sort of cliffhanger? I need answers!!

And these are the best movies and shows I’ve seen this year! What are your faves?

 

The Jingle Bells Book Tag

Hello! Last tag before Christmas! I found this on The Little Wise Owl, go and check this wonderful blog!

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” – What book do you want to see under the Christmas Tree?

Right now I’m obsessed with The Last Magician, I don’t know why, but I know that all the books I will receive this Christmas are the ones I buy myself.

“Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time” – What book that you have read this year have you enjoyed the most?

“Enjoyed” it’s not the word I would have used, because this book has destroyed my heart. But it’s the best of the year.

Elf – What book unleashes your inner child?

“It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas” – Which book has most festive look to it?

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett! I have this wonderful Hardback edition I bought in Maastricht.

The Grinch – Your favourite villain…

The Other Mother from Coraline! She’s really spooky, and with that buttons on the eyes…

The Holiday – Name your favourite TWO couples…

I don’t read romance books, and I usually don’t like the superhyped books with “famous” couples, so I will say two couples of friends: Rufus and Lin from The Twistrose Key and Harry and Luna from Harry Potter.

What book would you like to give as a present to your followers?

Flights and chimes and mysterious times is such a wonderful book and it’s so underhyped.

And that’s all, Merry Christmas to all of you!

Review: Cogheart, by Peter Bunzl

Title: Cogheart (The Cogheart Adventures #1)

Author: Peter Bunzl

Genre: middle-grade, fantasy, steampunk

Publisher: Usborne

Pages: 366

Release date: September 1st 2016

Goodreads rating: 4.06

My rating: 3/5

Add on: Goodreads, Amazon

Synopsis:

Lily’s life is in mortal peril. Her father is missing and now silver-eyed men stalk her through the shadows. What could they want from her?

With her friends—Robert, the clockmaker’s son, and Malkin, her mechanical fox—Lily is plunged into a murky and menacing world. Too soon Lily realizes that those she holds dear may be the very ones to break her heart. . . .

Murder, mayhem and mystery meet in this gripping Victorian adventure.

Review:

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange of an honest review.

Cogheart has a beautiful cover, and I’m always attracted by Steampunk books with beautiful covers. In this book we can find Zeppelin, mechanical animals and people,  skies battle.

“Broken clocks can always be fixed, but broken hearts are a harder thing to save”

However, this book has a lot of potentials, but has a big problem too: it’s so predictable.
If you have already read, like me, more than a couple of steampunk/middle-grade books, you can easily predict not only the main plot of this book, but like every single scene. During the entire book I was like: ok, I bet know they… And I was right. It’s so frustrating, and a bit annoying too.
And it’s so sad, because I found the emotions and the feelings very strong. The friendship between Lily and Robert is so sweet, and all the sidekicks are fantastic. Malkin is the usually sarcastic and wise animal sidekick, and it’s a fox! How cool is a mechanical fox?

The robots that living in Lily’s house are all like a big family to her, and they are fantastic, my favourite characters of the book with Malkin. But as I said: we can immediately guess who is the evil guy; where is the Cogheart; who is willing to help our little heroes, etc.

Now, I know that I’ve read a lot of books, and I’m usually intuitive, and this can be a perfect book to a young reader who loves adventures and fantasy stories, but I’m feeling a little disappointed.
I’m not encourage to read the second book in the series.

Other books in the series:

Moonlocket

Skycircus

Christmas Stocking Bookish Tag

Hello everybody! I’m back from my little vacation in London, and I’m ready to post some cute Christmas Bookish Tag!

This one I found it on Jenniely, but it was originally created by Kate at Reading through Infinity.

Rules

• Link to the person who tagged you
• Link to Kate, as she’d love to read your answers
• Answer all 10 questions, choosing books for each theme
• Tag five people to do this

You get up on Christmas morning and your stocking is full! You take it down and start to unwrap the treats inside. The first thing you see is…

An orange! Which book is refreshing and vibrant, both inside and out?

I mean, it has Ice Cream on the cover. It’s refreshing, right? Maybe it’s not Chrismas related.

The next thing you see is a bag of chocolate coins. (Yum) Which book have you recently bought that was expensive, but totally worth the high price?

The Illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban. It’s just wonderful.

You also pull out a bath bomb. Tell us about a book that had explosive action scenes.

All the books in this series have a lot of action scenes, and to me, it’s the best series with Vampire Hunters. The scenes about the hunting, the searching and the killing of the vampires are really well written.

Next is a pack of playing cards. Which series won you over?

The Hermux Tantamoq series by Michael Hoeye. It’s a middle grade story, with beautiful vintage inspired covers, and I love it so much.

You also get a candle. Which character is a symbol of hope in their story?

Probably every hero in their own story is a symbol of hope: from Katniss to Percy Jackson, but this quote always strikes me. So Harry Potter is my choice.

There are socks inside too. Is there a book that you think really encompasses all the distinctive tropes of its genre?

The Twistrose Key has all the distinctive tropes: a magical land, talking animals, magic, a villain, hope and love. It’s a wonderful fantasy middle grade.

There’s also a notebook. Which author’s writing process do you find most interesting/inspiring?

Uhm, that’s a tough question. I visited Oxford this summer, and there was an exhibition in honor of Tolkien: it was so interesting, all the researches, all the maps and words he created.

To go with the notebook, there’s a fancy pen. Is there a book or a series that you’d change if you’d written it yourself?

The Hobbit: I love it, but frankly, the ending just broke my heart. In my mind and my heart, they are happily live and well.

There’s also a small bedside clock. Which book took you a long time to pick up but was worth it in the end?

The ugly Princess was on my Kindle for at least a couple of years. I was captivated by the plot, but I don’t know why I picked it up only this year. This book surprised me, and I totally fell in love with the characters.

Your pile is getting really big. You reach in to pull out the last gift and it’s… a lump of coal? You’re a little disappointed. But you look closer and realise there’s a seam running through the coal. You crack it open and sitting inside is a tiny golden snitch. Tell us about a book that surprised you in some way.

I just finished The Sherlockian, and Wow, that book surprised me! I think it was a crime/thriller with Conan Doyle, but in fact, it was really good. The GR rating isn’t good, btw.

Tagging everyone who wants to do it!

My first Blogiversary!

Thanks to WordPress to remind me that today it’s my first Blogiversary!!

I can’t believe that my blog is one year old! I want to thank all my followers and the lovely bloggers that I met during this year!

I’m really happy and grateful for the attention and all the comments on my little blog. To me is a great achievement, especially because English is not my first language.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a giveaway this year, also because I’m currently on vacation, but I promise something in the next year!

Photo found on Pinterest.

It’s a beautiful quote! #2

Hello to everyone! Today I’m here with a new meme, created by me, where I share a quote that I love.

The title for this meme it’s from a song of Michael Bublè (“It’s a beautiful day”, you can hear it here).

I didn’t like Harry Potter and the cursed child, but I love this quote:

“Harry, there is never a perfect answer in this messy, emotional world. Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind, beyond the reach of magic. In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.”

 

(Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child)

November 2018 Wrap Up

And November is gone.

I read a total of 6 books on November, 3 written in English and 3 in Italian.

The Wild robot, by Peter Brown: well, I’m always the black sheep here, but I didn’t love this book. The illustrations are good, but the story is a little meh. 2,5 stars.

Cogheart by Peter Bunzl: a steampunk Middle grade with a lovely cover and a fantastic side kick animal, but oh, so predictable. 3 stars.

The Spyglass and the cherry tree by Matt Beighton: a really good MG/fantasy, you can read my review for the blog tour by clicking on the title. 3 stars.

It seems that November was dedicated to Middle grade books! However, the best book of the month is the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone, that I have re-read in Italian!

How was your reading month? Do you plan some Christmas/winter theme reading?